BANGOR

Senior right-hander Alana Weaver tossed a tidy two-hit shutout and senior shortstop Katelyn Cox drove in a pair of runs as the Mt. Ararat High School Eagles posted an impressive 6-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference victory over previously undefeated Bangor on Friday afternoon.

Mt. Ararat improved to 7-1, while the Rams fell to 8-1.

Weaver wasn’t overpowering, but she mixed up her pitches effectively in limiting the Rams to Morgan-Carter Moulton’s second-inning single to left and Lexi Cunningham’s single to center to open the sixth.

Weaver threw just 76 pitches, 52 of which were strikes. She struck out three and walked one.

Her teammates supported her with an excellent defensive performance led by fleet-footed junior center fielder Belle Benner, who made several nifty catches among her six while covering a ton of acreage.

“Their pitcher had a heckuva’ day,” said Bangor coach Don Stanhope. “We’ve watched her grow as a pitcher for four years. Their outfield covers a lot of ground. Whenever we put some good (swings) on the ball, they ate them up. They’re a very good team.”

Weaver said she considered her performance one of her best of the season.

“My curve worked really well today. I also threw a fastball, a rise ball and I did throw a knuckleball and changeup a couple of times,” said Weaver. “I was just trying to get them to hit pop-ups or anything (we could field).”

She also credited Benner for her performance in center.

“She is insane. She made so many beautiful catches,” said an exuberant Weaver.

“I just feel really comfortable out there. I knew I had to do my job to be a part of the win,” said Benner who robbed Madi Drake by making a nice running catch on her sinking fly ball in the bottom of the first and made another noteworthy snare on Drake’s deep fly in the sixth.

Benner ranged far into right center to take a potential extra-base hit away from Grace Perron in the seventh.

“She threw a rise ball and we kept getting our hands under it instead of on top of it. So we kept popping it up to the outfield where they are very good,” said Bangor senior shortstop Emma Payne.

“Every time we hit the ball well, it went right to them like a magnet,” said Bangor senior third baseman Megan Conner.

“Whenever a ball is hit to center field, we breathe a sigh of relief,” said Mt. Ararat co-head coach Al Graffam.

Mt. Ararat scored a run without the benefit of a hit in the first inning on a walk to Zoe Stilphen, Weaver’s sacrifice bunt, a groundout and a wild pitch.

They added three more in the third. Kelsey Scannevin walked on a 3-2 pitch to open the inning and Stilphen reached on an infield single into the shortstop hole. Weaver then poked a single into short left field. It actually could have been a fielder’s choice if the left fielder’s throw to third wasn’t high.

Katelyn Cox hit a sacrifice fly to right, Weaver stole second, and Stilphen and Weaver both scored on a wild pitch and an ensuing throwing error to the plate.

Mt. Ararat added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth on Cox’s crisp RBI single through the box and Kayleigh Temple’s run-scoring double to center field.

“Going into this game, we knew Bangor was a really, really good team,” said Cox, who had a double to go with her single and sacrifice fly. “Alana did a wonderful job working with Kayleigh our catcher. They just worked it around the strike zone … made them pop it up or ground it out and we have a really strong defense.”

Holly Temple had two singles for the Eagles.